STUDY: Instagram Proves More Effective Than Pinterest for Top Brands

Simply Measured Report Finds 67 Percent of Top Brands Are Now on
Instagram, Demonstrating Significant Growth Since 2012 Facebook
Acquisition

May 09, 2013 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Simply
Measured today announced that a year after being acquired by
Facebook, 67 percent of top brands are now using Instagram, reaching
more than 100 million active monthly users on the network, a 500 percent
increase in users since the acquisition.

The Simply Measured Instagram study evaluates brands and verticals in
the Interbrand 100, identifying key trends and strategies shaping the
way companies engage with consumers through social media. Key findings
include:

Instagram is more powerful than Pinterest. While Facebook and
Twitter continue their reign as the dominant social networks, Simply
Measured’s quarterly study found that the appeal of visual marketing
is on the rise. To date, Pinterest has attracted a higher percentage
of brands, however Instagram is growing faster and proving more
valuable. As of May 1, the collective audience of the 76 Interbrand
companies on Pinterest was less than 500,000, while Instagram’s 67
companies reach more than 7 million followers.

Facebook’s impact cannot be overlooked. Since the acquisition,
Twitter engagement has steadily dropped, while Facebook engagement is
up 23 percent quarter over quarter, spurred by several strategic moves
including integrating “like” sharing and introducing web profiles. In
total, more than 2 million likes, comments and shares of Instagram
photos have occurred on Facebook since the network bought to photo
sharing app.

Top brands are using Instagram more frequently and with greater
impact. Today, 23 percent of active Interbrand 100 companies post
more than 50 times a month, up from 20 percent last quarter. In
addition, those brands are seeing more than 5,600 engagements per
photo, up 16 percent over the previous quarter.

Nike, MTV and Starbucks top the list. This quarter, Nike became
the third brand to reach 1 million followers, joining MTV and
Starbucks. MTV saw a 200 percent growth in engagement, due in part to
its robust usage of Instagram surrounding the MTV
Movie Awards. The network’s unprecedented level of activity was
rewarded as it posted 78 photos the day of the show, each averaging
more than 16,000 likes and comments.

“A year ago, many people were skeptical about Facebook’s acquisition of
Instagram and whether it would hinder the network’s growth. However
today it’s very clear that the synergies are not only bringing new users
on board, but also creating incredible opportunities for brands to
connect with consumers,” said Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of Simply Measured.

Simply Measured’s analytics
and reporting capabilities allow brands to track Instagram
engagement in-context with other social media campaigns, including most
engaging photos, most engaging filters, most engaging locations,
cross-posting, keyword analysis and more.

Simply Measured brings social media analytics to life. The company’s
measurement and reporting solution aggregates social media data and web
analytics from more than a dozen sources and presents it in a single
dashboard that is easy to access on the fly and share across a team.
More than 30 unique reports can be created in real-time and pushed to
familiar tools such as Excel or PowerPoint with the click of a button.
Simply Measured is trusted by more than 30 percent of the top 100 global
brands and more than 60,000 users. Learn more at http://simplymeasured.com.